My new desk buddies

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Meet Lester. And he has a brother named Earl. Yeah, Flatt and Scruggs in gerbil form.

I got them about a week ago. I know, it might seem a little odd for a grown woman to want a pair of gerbils for her office, but to be honest, I’m a little odd and I just love gerbils. They are SO dang cute. And I love how they work all the time when they are awake, they are an inspiration to me. I just love to watch how focused they are on destroying cardboard. And moving litter about and searching for seeds and such.
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Earl’s a little camera shy. I haven’t gotten a good shot of him yet.

I had an extra aquarium when Edward got his new deluxe large home and well, I was thinking… I would love a pair of gerbs. I had gerbils when I was young and then when we ran our pocket pet rescue with my daughter Maggie, I adored them then as well. They are SUPER easy to keep, just a little food now and then, enough cardboard to chew up and make nests in and water. Being desert animals, they don’t create much waste and you can let their litter go for weeks without a faintest hint of aroma. Super easy to take care of.
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Since I’m often up quite late in the evening, working on my empire, it’s cool to have them awake and working on their own little bit of heaven. And it’s super cute to see them playing with each other and running about the place. I can hold them, they are really pretty tame and comfortable with humans, but I tend to leave them be for the most part. I just like to watch them while I’m working and they keep me company.

Of course, the kitties are very interested and will stop by often for a little gerbil TV. But even Jack has given up on watching them too much. He boinked his head a few times on the glass and now has given up on any paws on interaction time.
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I guess if I can’t have hens or goats and all that right now, I’ll have to settle with a pair of gerbils, a guinea pig, two ferrets, 3 cats and a big old loafing dog. Works for me!

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April’s Glass City Opry

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It’s hard to explain just how neat it is to be a partner in such a cool thing… The Glass City Opry is a premiere Bluegrass concert series that my partner and I run, here in Maumee, Ohio. We have national acts come once a month and it’s really cool. I love it. It’s tough, but it’s a personal milestone in my life.
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At the intermission, I was up on stage with Jeff, talking about the next shows and doing our drawing for goodies from sponsors and I remember looking out into the lights and the dark theater from the big stage and thinking… oh my gosh… I can’t believe we’re making this work. 35 shows under our belts. Three years in August. Wow.
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I’ve gotten to meet some of the best and the brightest stars of bluegrass music… here… on stage, backstage at our own place!!! Unbelievable. IIIrd Tyme Out, Michael Cleveland, New Found Road, David Davis, Ralph Stanley II, and more. And this year is just going to be more and more stars… one of my favorite banjo players of all time, Bill Emerson, a foundational member of the music, is coming in November! Can’t believe it.
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It’s just unbelievable at times. Try not to get caught up in the sparkle of it all, but it’s really fun. I wish I could explain how cool it is to be back stage and watching what is going on, to be onstage and hearing the applause when people talk about the Opry and they love it, and all the hard work that goes into the show. It’s neat. Enjoyable. I hope we can keep it going and hit 60 shows in a while…maybe even 100!
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Sometimes it feels like one of those reality shows, and I can picture how it might play out as we’re all rushing about and getting ready, some of the tense moments, like when a band member is flying in and late for the show and we’re sending runners to get them, or when something goes awry, but thankfully, that is really pretty few and far between… the show runs very smoothly. We’ve got super volunteers that help out show day and make it all happen.
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And during the month, Jeff and I are pretty comfortable with running the day to day stuff, it’s really gotten pretty routine by now. Press releases go out, newsletters, website changes, bookings, and that kind of thing. I think we’ve finally gotten to a point that I rarely have worries or butterflies of nervousness over show day.
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I’m just thankful for the experience and something to sit back when I’m a old bluegrass gal and smile about the memories! Hopefully it will be on the way to see the 150th show at the Glass City Opry! That would be a hoot!!!

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Goofy…  we’re drawing tickets for the prize and just kind of being silly onstage.  The crowd loves that.

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The Black Swamp Opry

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Last Friday night we had a wonderful opportunity to be the very first band to play at the new Black Swamp Opry in Defiance, Ohio. It’s held in a beautiful old church that is now owned by the community. Great acoustics and nice people.

There were some beautiful stained glass windows in the church. Apparently the story goes that once the church was no longer needed as a church, some fellow from town wanted the old windows and planned to strip them and leave the building to be torn down. The town people said NO WAY… and went to getting petitions and such to save the old building. Now the community owns it and they use it as a meeting place and for concerts and music.
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Inside the building, it’s simply beautiful. And a great place to hear music. And a great place to play music too!
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We had a good show and the music sounded great. The people were super responsive and we are booked back to play there in June. Can’t wait. Hopefully too, there will be more people, as this was the very first evening concert and we know, with running our own Opry, that it takes a little time to get everything going and for word of mouth to spread the news.

You can visit their website… which of course, I manage! (haha)

www.blackswampopry.com

And here are a couple videos of the gang as we had a great show there!

I played this song for my friend Davey… he loved when we played this song and we dedicated it to him. He is missed…


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Rob and Tim hanging out downstairs and watching the country karaoke music… fun stuff. I hope they get it all going on down there. Should be fun!

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